In-Box Review

Introduction

There are certain complaints that are regularly leveled at kit and figure manufacturers whenever a new product is released, and that complaint is “why didn’t they supply gun X with this product” or “why is there only 1 of gun X as I wanted two”. Well Dragon have a number of weapon sets on the market which I believed had gone out of production, however they seem to be turning up for sale on a regular basis now which I believe means they are being produced again in limited numbers. In this review I will be taking a look at the World War Two German Infantry Weapons part 1 in 1/35th scale, which is a good set to have to hand when the need arises.

Contents

Inside the typical end opening box you will find four light grey sprues with two of each sprue being identical.

Review

I am starting this review with a general overview of this products attributes. Moulding detail is fair to good with some detail being a little soft in places, but due to the small size of some of the items and the age of the moulds this is not overly surprising. Scale wise the weapons included all appear reasonable but I could not find details on all of them to verify 100% accuracy.

The moulding themselves are fair to good with no obvious flash present which is again surprising due to the age of the moulds, there are, of course, moulding seams that will need to be taken care of but nothing that should challenge the average skill level modeller. There were no sink marks or any of the other issues that are sometimes present in model products and so this scores highly in that area.

It would appear that great efforts have been made to include good trigger and trigger guard detail for each of the weapons including the pistols, this shows to me the that the efforts that Dragon have put into their recent offerings was always present even when the needed advancements were not available.

There are a couple of areas that do cause me some concern which are the placement of some of the flow nipples and the plastic itself. For the most part the flow nipples have been placed in locations where removal and clean up will be easy but a couple are placed on curved areas which will require very careful cleanup to look right. My concern about the plastic is that it seems to be very hard, and thus brittle, which will cause possible problems during removal from the sprue and when drilling out the barrels to improve the general appearance of the weapons.

As can be seen from the included pictures the common infantry weapons such as the MP40, Mauser Kar 98K, MG34, and MG42 are included in this product as well as the not so common such as the Sturmgewehr 44 (recognised as the first assault rifle), and then there are weapons I have never heard of such as the Mkb 42 (two types), so something for everyone. The inclusion of four of each of the three pistol types is also a very nice inclusion in the set.

Conclusion

Due to the age of the moulds for this product there are a number of lows with it, none of them however cannot be overcome with an average skill level and care. The price is also attractive considering what you get for your money with the only competition being offerings from Tamiya and Italeri which do not have the range included in the set from Dragon. All things considered I recommend this set to you as it will be a handy product to have when a specific weapon is needed or wanted.

SUMMARY

Highs: For me the high mark for this set has to be the selection of weapons included going from the common to the obscure.Lows: There are three possible lows to this product which are the placement of a few flow nipples, the plastic being on the brittle side, and some soft detail.Verdict: Regardless of the lows this product is worth having for when needed and so I recommend it to you until something better is released that can compete on price and contents.

I have been building model kits since the early 70’s starting with Airfix kits of mostly aircraft, then progressing to the point I am at now building predominantly armour kits from all countries and time periods. Living in the middle of Salisbury plain since the 70’s, I have had lots of opportunitie...